>> tom: appls profits shine, marking its most protable quarter ever. pushing those earnin higher: suing iphone sales led by its debut in china. you're watching "nightly busine report" for monday, january 25. this is "nightly business report" with sus gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" isade possible by:

this program was made ssible by conibutions to your pbs station from viewers le you. thk you. captioning sponsored bwpbt >> tom: good evening, evyone. big earnin and big revenues from apple late toda and those blocuster numbers are thanks in lae part to the iphone tom, iphone sales ubled in the quarr. and in after hours tding, apple shes took off:

up as much as 5%. ple's fiscal first quarter sults came in much higher th anyst estimates. e company earned $3.67 a are, 17 cents more than consensuestimates. revenues jumped 32% to record $15.7 billion, ao more than what alysts were expecting. besides strong iphone sale mac computer sales were also behd that record quarter performae. so, scott let'talk about these g numbers here. profits d revenues beer than expected t maybe not quite high as some had hoped, right >> that's onof the proems i guess apple has. they rai expectations so much. it's reay a blockbuster quarter butthe macintosh sales really strong for chrimas but just a little low what some people were wishing for. i-pod sas, we're expecting them to slow up a little. after aleverybody has an i- pod. that's true. i-phonsales also just as

expected everying in line but people are looking for something better. >> tom:ooking fo something that they'll have wait until wednesday. speakingf expectatis a lot of expectations have been built up to th eventhat ape is holdingon wednesday in ft even stev jobs in tonit's release saying that some big things will be announced whachlt do we kw. >> he's a master showman. he has expectations so hi, we've been talking for a couple of years now about some so of a slate or a tablet computer. we really dot know what this is goingo be nowbut the's tremendous sculation. weent on the internet today and ife can show you a few of t pictures that wefound obviouy these are pictures that are of ver different kinds of devices. th can't all be right. ey could all be wrong. we really don't kno what we're going to get. is it ing to be a per-sized i-pod? is it going to be a new i-pne? is it going to be a tabt computer that runs the macinth operating system or eve, for example, could it be some sort of an e-reader or an e-book, sothing that might compete with amazon's kindl

we reay don't know. wel have to wait until dnesday like everybody else. tom: all this feeding into the frenzy about the wednesday announcement. assuming it's a tablet-like device clearly others hav been ithis space. hewleltt-packard has tablet out. dell and microsoft has tried its nd here. whatould apple have to do to succeed where otherssimply haven't? >> i thi the first thing it has to dis b easier to use. these thgs have been niche ayers. your delivery driver. the u.p.s. guy, the fed-ex has something li this. people in a warehouse, they're walking aroundhe warehouse, you know, taking notes. they have things likthis. but in general,ñi they hav't caught o to really general- purpose use. dell has got one. and toe sheerba have one. they're convertibles, the screen flips aund, turns, folds over backwardand makes it like a tablet but the tablet-form factor in itself has ner reallyaught on. thisas to be something special. >> tom: nally, scott, real quk here. steve jobs as you mentioned a

mast showman. uld this possibl live up to the hype and still ls of secrecy around the event. >> everything sys cret with him. ings leak from other companies. ry few of them leak from apple. he's done itefore. can pull it off. >>om: fair enough. ounew york bureau chief scott gurvey there in anticipaon of apple and certainly alof us will be watcng on wednesda as well. scott, joining us from ne york. >> susie: general moto is on the road to paying back biions in government loans. chairman ed whacre said today e automaker will return more than $8 billion to both the s. and canada bthe end of june. separaly, whitacre says g.m.'s board wants him the driver's seat. he's aepted the c.e.o. role permaneny after taking over on a temporary basis last mth wh fritz henderson was ousted. but whitacreays the board hasn't put a timetab on his turn at the eel. >> we didn't assn a specific time to it, but asar as i'm concerned it's for an equate

ount of time to get done wha we need toet done. ani can't tell you if it's threyears or two years or what it might be. but it's long enou to get to whe we need to go. susie: whitacre was also asked today wh g.m. will sell stock to the public. he said it'll come only whenhe automakeis ready, and market conditionsre right. separately, the treasu said it still es a g.m. stock offering in the second lf of the year. >> tom: here are the stori in tonighs "nbr newswheel". stocks managed to buckheir losing trend from la week, turning positive after thr sessionsf sharp selling. the dow rose almost 24oints, the nasdaq and s&p00 both ding five points. the housing market connues to stggle. existing home sales mbled in december falling6.7%, down to 5.45 milli homes. thateverses november's 7% sales gain and marks the worst month--month decline on record.

cketmaster's takeover of liv nati has finally gotten th greelight. buthe justice department put conditions on e deal, requiring cketmaster to licensits ticketing software and ll some ticket agencies. >> susie: president obamtoday sa creating good sustainable jobs is the sing most important thing his ministration can do to help e middle class. jobs arexpected to be a major focus of this week'state of the union address. the job market is so bad now millions of people have ven up loing for work. but as jamila trindlreports, th doesn't mean they've given up. >> reporter: bore coming back to the classroom, michelle huon had a decade-long career as a lal secretary. >> sometimesou never know what's goi to happen from day to day. when i got laid off, nev in my wildest dreams did i tnk i would be sitting he. >> reporter: after sixonths of oking for a job, hutton is leavg behind office work and taking on ywall, electrical

wiring, ansolar panels. in addition to practical slls for e construction industry to help stunts find a job, teachers at this training program in suburban maryla so deal with the other side unemployment. >> we've expded it to look at personalelationships because ere is a lot of stress, whether it's on ur significant other, your spouseor whomever's sporting you finaially. >> reporter: here udents find they're t the only ones struggling to nd a job. it's tough and it's scary a just kwing that you have that kind of support, it can rely he get you through those tough tis when you're feeling down or just not ving a good day. >> reporter: does it help em to come t here and build something fromhe ground up and see th they have the skills and the ability to lrn the skills to do somhing like this? >> exact, it's definitely a motivation point for them. >> reporte whether or not building this house actually

leads to aob in construction, students sayt's kept them motivated, they feel produive, that this ti they've spent without job, hasn't been a waste. officially, mielle hutton and some oers here are counted as workforce drouts; people who havstopped looking for work, even tugh they want job. since the summerf 2009, 2 million workers ha fallen into that catory. economist hei sherholtz says 'll have to see a huge improvement in the ecomy to sorb all the unemployed workers and those ople who've stopped looking. >> if the market srts to pick up, those peoplere going to start cong back into the workfoe. and so uess we have jobs owth that's extraordinarily strong, those ople are going to enter as unployed workers. >> repter: which is where michelle hutton ll be in three weeks; looking for a job in construction. e's already seen how bad the jomarket is, but this course has taught herhe's not alone. >> i've never seen this couny

in the sta or in the situation it is now, so it's liknew for alof us. i've nevereen here before, so just hope for the best. >> rorter: and if that means starting as an apprentic hutton says she'll takit. jamila trile, "nightly business report", largo, maryland. >> tom: still ead, this spraing apartment complex marked one of the biggesreal esta deals in history. now its owners are walkingway. we look at whathe collapse of stuyvesant towmeans for the dustry.

>> susie: a floodof earnings today anyou're wading through all of tm. >> tom: the flood gates are opening re. les take a look atthat market focus, susie. >> tom: this is the pe week of corporate urth quarter earnings. after the bellonight, in addition to those apple earnings, chip company texas instruments had a betterhan expected end to the year. the company says it did t see any of the usu holiday slowdown in demand f its chips. instead, inventoriesave been below historical levs helping sales. t.x.n. stock is up 58% over e past year, but ovethe past couple oweeks, the stock has drped more than 10% as trading volumes ha increased. biotech amgen rned in disappointing resus. the company has turnedn more data on a bone drug in its pipeline andxpected to hit the rket this year. amgen shares, along th other big biotech names,ave not kept

pace with the ovall rally, up only 5% over the past year. earngs were the market focus with the likes of a.k. sel and haiburton before the bell day. a.k. ste started off strong for metals, reporting a four quarter profit, heed by shipping more eel. the rm sees average selling prices rising this quarter th led to almost three times average volu and the stock rallying more an 5%, recovering just a rtion of what it has lost ovethe past two weeks. a triof metal makers are on the earnings calendar is week. nucor and u.s. steel hav battled the auto swdown and lower prices. specialtmetal maker allegheny technologies comes trsday. the trio was mixed. we're alsoetting a look at the outlook for oidrilling in 2010. lliburton today said drillin in north americas picking up. that assessment came aer the company rerted a big earnings drop. halliburton pects 2010 to be much better than lt year.

halliburton stock saw more tn twice average volu, plenty of interest, but not muchrice movement others out ts week include baker ghes and weatherford tomorrow. smith inteational on wednesy. these three mixed ahead of tir results. a number opower companies are due up for earnis this week. the li-up for this week from utilits looks like this. tomorrow, florida'f.p.l. group is first up. the stock is aeight month lows. on wednesday, it'southern group, and on thursday with american electric and domini sources. thanks tthe weak economy, demand f power was down in the fourth qrter as we saw in exelon's earnings ba on friday, but hopes are it wil pick up as the economymproves. citi analyst ban chin figures utilities will c their spending on g projects, some calledapital spending, by about 4%, ile earnings and divinds will continue to grow. and he says th's not a healthy mix if it lasts for mo than a w years. >> they get to chae a rate based on howuch they have invested prudently intthe business.

when capitalxpenditures goes do it means the utilities aren'tnvesting into their business, and so according their rateultimately are not gointo be driven higher since they have less items to cover. >> tom: as f as f.p.l. is concerned tomorrow, predicts the company will eher lower its 2010 earnis guidance or not give any tnks to florida regulators rejecting.p.l.'s recent rate hi proposal. chin says thutility sector pa an average dividend of out 5%, but he thinks even i the lower x rate dividends now enjoy pires as scheduled this year, it suldn't hurt the stocks. and that's tight's "market focus".

>> susie: more trouble in al estate, and th is a big one. the collapsef one of the largest commerci real estate des in u.s. history. a big new york developer, d a big ll street firm said today theye giving up control of uyvesant town and peter coop village inanhattan. tishman sper and partner blackrock boug the 80-acre compx for about $5.5 billion four yearsgo. that is the st ever paid for a single residtial property. now they'rturning over the keys to editors to avoid reclosure. era miller takes look at what it all means. >> rorter: today, it was raininon the sprawling stuyvesa town and peter cooper apartmt complex in manhattan. apprriate symbolism for the downfall of is high profile instment inked during the boom times in real estate. re estate attorney ed mermelstein warns this is st the p of the iceberg. >> i think this is jusa preface what's expected to

happen. anunfortunately, it's a very large default. t everything goi forward after this default colctively is just going to make this bad memory. reporter: landlords nationwide havrun into trouble as a result of fling rents and limited refinancing option e companies taking the bigge hit bought apartnt buildings by taking heavy debt loads, being rents would keep rising. but real estate exrt jim wacht does not think we'll see wave of propey owners walking away from their debts, likeishman. >> wt does that mean, long term? does it me we're going to have a completeollapse of the real estate market? probly not. a lot of the lenders wl probably worthings out with the owners, rticularly the owners who dl with them fairly. >> reporte for tishman, which also owns rockefeller center the biggest hit isot financial. experts say the bigger dage of the stuyvesant town collap is to tishman's reputatio >> it's one ing to see a novice g caught up in the exuberance of the mark and make a bad decisn.

it's another thing to see th people wh the experience, pability, and the sophtication of tishman speyer to make that kind ofistake. thou he says it's too early to provide detls. >> tom: here's what we're watching for torrow. we'll see more keyousing data with t s%p case shiller home price index for noveer. and the federal reserve's en mark committee begins a two- day meeting; it's decision on interesrates is expected on wednesday al tomorrow, this cupcake entrepreneur is harnesng the power of social networking. we'll tell you h you can put it to workor your business too. ca

investors might think. because they see it part of a patter it's natural foreople to look foratterns like that. this is just how we are. >> susie: professor, iit a matter of wiful thinking or mething deeper than that? >> as i said, our prictions of the fure are really lied to our explanaons of the past.

wishl thinking is certain an ement. no doubt about it. people want good things to haen to themselves, and they believe that this is the way, let's say, t univers is orgazed. but i woulsay theain cause isust the looking... the fact that peop look for a stable, underlyingcause. we try to explain what happens. >> susie: is it that you tnk that pple are uncomfortable dealing with randomness? is that the sue? >> that is certain an aspect of it. we all look r predictability in life. maybe this is somethg do with evoluti. mean,it's a matterof survival. but rtainly we always organize our liv. we look ahead. we plan. so the first step the is to interpre our surroundis. >> susie: so, i know you're noa stock market advir, but whatdvice can you give to invtors so that ty

won'be fooled by these patterns? shld investo stop lookgs atast ? >> this is a very hard question, susie. as i said this tendency is part of human nature. think what we can do is make peop aware of ts problem. maybto, you know, programs like this one. but to actually remedy it would be to tryo chang human nature. i think, you know, we can make people aware tha when they see a trend, say, letay one stock particularly has vision or some past peormance, they should try to remember th this is one stock ang many. it's difficult to do. >> susie: professor de bon, thank you so mh for your time. it's been a pleure talking with you. >> a pleasure, susie, thank you. tom: harry rei today sa he eects the sena to vote by the end of th week on confirng ben bernanke to another term as federal reserve chairm. tonight's commentat calls

althe debateidiculous. it i alo sloan senior editor at largat fortune. >> i'm no fanfben bernanke but i'm even lessa fan of the campaign to de him a second term as fed chairman. that campaign isn example of why peopleike me who try to deal with facts have so little spect for washington which seems to deal mostly with emotions. my pblem with bernanke is he's too much of an academic and to open about the d's waings so politicians and rkets are ling respect for the fe ve said since 2007 that the fed has been way t nice to wall street. but we need to remember something. if bernankend the fe hadn't bailed o the financial , the great depression wouldn't behistory. it wld be current events. we he mlions more employed. people's retiment accounts wiped out. house prices in the toilet. look, even a non-falike me

could see that bernanke ces a lo about main stre. he spentis career studying the great depressn trying to make sure we don'tave a second one. he, bette than anyone, knows how mu mai street would be hurt iwe had a run. he's the same guy he wasa few months ago. when washingtonoved him for ving the financial system. if you likedhim then, y should like him now. so let's hope e senate acts like grown-u and confirms him. 've already got big ecomic problems and jittery mkets. the last thing we nee on top of that is a criled fed. i'm allan oan. >> susie: fally tonight, uslly whenwe talk about bubbles, is a b thing. not tonight. when these bubbles popp, it's musico the ears of many bubb wrap turns 50 years ago today. for half a century people o all es have been hing fun and desessing by bursting small as i can bubbles. we've all done i its invtor... inventors

originally intended theubble paper to be used as textured wallpar. clearly, t, that didn't wk out. happy gold aiversary. >> tom how about..it looks like thosekids stopped the hudsonhousehold recently with all the bubble wrap wve been dealin with withur move to miami. >> susie: what would y do wiout it. >> absolely. that isnightly business report for this monday evening. thanks for tuning in, everybody. good night tyou. >> sus: i'm susie garrick. have a grt evening, everyone. we'll see all you ain rrow night right here. "nightly business rert" is made psible by: thisrogram was made possible this program was made poible

by contrutions to your pbs station from viewersike you. thk you.